


transference

by DEMlG0DZ



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Past Relationship(s), Past unrequited love, basically i bully them xx, relationship analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:08:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25213672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DEMlG0DZ/pseuds/DEMlG0DZ
Summary: The blanket was pulled high enough that only his shoulders, freckled and dark, were visible. Even that felt like too much to Annabeth, so she carefully pulled the blanket up higher, so it was tucked close to his chin.basically annabeth is not wise girl <33
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31
Collections: the belen archives





	transference

**Author's Note:**

> this is for my bby belen. she has Great ideas. i havent written in a long time so this isn't going to be my best work, but i hope you guys and belen enjoy it anyway xx 
> 
> psa :)) this is set when they're adults!! it mentions sex and has a vague "scene" but it's nothing explicit.

It all started when Annabeth got onto social media. Being a demigod, technology was always something she kept her distance from. Of course, that didn’t mean all demigods followed the technology rules. Many of them had phones or computers, or many other things monsters could easily find them with. Some of them just had better luck avoiding trouble. Annabeth Chase had never been one to avoid trouble. The trouble this time around, though, wasn’t monsters. It was her boyfriend.

___

Their relationship wasn’t perfect. No relationship was. Annabeth and Percy had been through… enough. Between Tartarus, wars, death, and… more pain than any teenager should suffer, there was a lot on their minds. Percy was constantly haunted by his survivor’s guilt. Annabeth was followed by her fear of insignificance and failure. Both of them were heavily weighed down, but they understood each other. They weren’t each other’s answers, but they were the support they needed until they could find them. 

Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but they were perfect for each other. Of course, Annabeth only thought that until there was reason not to.

The internet was a place where people learned things they didn’t need to know. It was a place where words were thrown around as though they were meaningless, and innocent users were torn to shreds. Even without the social aspects of media, there were still things to tear someone down. Trending pages on social media apps, included. 

Annabeth had always been fascinated by the brain. Everything started in the brain, and it all ended in the brain. The slightest twitch of a finger was triggered by the brain. You could lose the smallest portion of the organ, and depending on where it was, lose all motor skills. The brain was so intensely important, but it wasn’t even always about physical movement. It controlled emotions and thoughts, and those emotions and thoughts could make you act in a way you shouldn’t. Your brain controlled if you were completely logical or not. 

Nobody was one-hundred percent logical. Everyone was at least slightly affected by emotions. Annabeth was, too. She knew that. She was driven by emotions, as much as anyone else. Her mother may have some of the smartest kids ever, but being smart didn’t stop someone from making a mistake due to emotional distress. She knew she was just as vulnerable to mental issues as others were. 

So when she discovered transference, she had stopped to think about it for ages.  _ Transference describes a situation where the feelings, desires, and expectations of one person are redirected and applied to another person”  _ the website read. Not only was it common and completely unaffected by how intelligent or mentally strong one may be, but it was often found in someone who had too high of expectations for another person in the past. It wasn’t difficult to make the connection to her own past, and how it may have connected to her then. 

“Luke,” she said softly. The name left a sour taste in her mouth. 

“Mm?” Percy mumbled. He was definitely still asleep, but he startled Annabeth out of her trance.

She was suddenly back in her own reality. Percy’s bedroom was dark, only lit by Annabeth’s phone screen. The only sounds heard were those of New York at night, bustling and awake, even when the son of Poseidon was not. She’d told him she was going to be staying up a bit after him, that her brain needed some time to slow down so she could sleep. Sally had left them to their own devices at around nine, but the number at the bottom of Annabeth’s screen read  _ 12:38 _ . 

She’d missed New York. Her and Percy had gotten a place in New Rome, and it’d been… so unfamiliar, at first. She loved it.  _ They  _ loved it. But it wasn’t the same, and they consistently visited New York. Percy needed to see his family, and Annabeth did, too. Maybe New Rome wasn’t all it was made out to be, or maybe… her and Percy  _ weren’t  _ perfect for each other. After everything had settled and they’d gotten their peace, it had been… odd. They were content, but their relationship had been built on chaos. 

Annabeth’s throat tightened. She bookmarked her tab, before shutting her laptop off and setting it down on the nightstand. Now, the only light was the blinking blue light on the bottom of her computer. It was bright enough for the wall opposite to have a dim blue circle on it whenever the light blinked on. She stared at it for a moment, before allowing her gaze to turn to Percy. He had his cheek squished against the pillow, and of course, he was drooling. He always slept in a t-shirt and boxers, but he’d been warm, so he went without his shirt this time. The blanket was pulled high enough that only his shoulders, freckled and dark, were visible. Even that felt like too much to Annabeth, so she carefully pulled the blanket up higher, so it was tucked close to his chin.

She slept on the couch that night.

____

The next time they had sex, Annabeth faked it. Percy was always all passion and love. He loved so intensely, but so gently. His hands were always warm and comfortable, and he always worshiped her like she was the most precious thing he’d ever seen. He probably thought she was. He probably thought she deserved the love he gave, the touches that went between careful and hot, desperate. He always took care of her, always listened to her. He was perfect in all the ways she wasn’t. Annabeth was smooth and precise, she was always focused on the end goal. She wanted the explosive feeling she got when Percy crooked his fingers just right. She chased the ecstasy, the physical pleasure. Percy was all about the journey. He praised her and loved her, and he was so  _ good  _ at the physical part. 

This time, he was the desperate one. His mouth was hot and needy, and she was falling apart under his hands. He was stressed. He was only ever like this if he was stressed. Percy was gentle until he wasn’t. He was gentle until he hurt his wrist and couldn’t use Riptide as easily.  _ What if we get attacked? I won’t be as good.  _ He was gentle until his mom wasn’t feeling well.  _ I can’t lose another person, I can’t help her. _ He was gentle until he was scared. He didn’t get scared easily, but Annabeth was always scared. She was always messy when they were together. She was always all over the place. Percy was put-together and doing his best to move on, and she lingered. She lingered on the past and the challenges she’d faced. 

When Percy told her he was close, she said  _ “me too” _ , and did her best to be convincing. He didn’t notice. He was busy on cloud nine. She couldn’t blame him. If he weren’t a guy, she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell if he were faking. 

Annabeth stayed at a friend’s house that night. 

___

Percy started noticing. She spent less and less time with him. She stopped doing anything too intimate. Percy was affectionate. He needed touch like he needed water. Too long without it and he wouldn’t feel well. Mentally, and maybe sometimes physically. 

“Why are you so distant?” he asked one morning, while they sat on the couch. Opposite ends of the couch. 

Annabeth didn’t look at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, lifting her glass of water to her lips. She could feel Percy’s gaze burning into the side of her face. She still didn’t look. 

He was quiet for a while, before he finally spoke up again. “Why are you so distant?” he asked again.

Annabeth’s fingers twitched. She squeezed her glass to hide it. “I’m not,” she insisted.

The TV shut off and Percy was turning on the couch so he was facing her. “Look at me,” he snapped. 

Annabeth turned her startled gaze over to him.

“Sorry,” Percy said, his voice much softer than it had been. He looked a bit ashamed. 

The two of them sat in silence for a while. Percy was looking directly at her, but Annabeth was looking just past his ear. With the TV shut off, the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock. 

“I don’t love you,” Annabeth said finally. 

Percy stared. 

“I thought I did,” she added quickly. Percy’s expression was blank. “I… I did some research,” she said softly.

“Yeah?” he asked. He didn’t sound all that interested. 

“I don’t think you love me, either,”

“ _ Bullshit. _ ”

Annabeth took a deep breath, finally making eye contact with her boyfriend. “I think I loved you because you did what Luke didn’t,” she whispered. “You did for me what I wanted from him. I transferred my needs for him onto you, and that’s not love,”

Percy watched her with a dull expression. “You don’t love me because I’m better to you than Luke was?” he asked.

  
Annabeth swallowed thickly. She supposed that was the gist, but it didn’t carry the same meaning. “Yes.”

Annabeth brought her stuff to her friend’s house that night.

____

They were together one more time. It wasn’t like any time before. Percy cried. Annabeth watched him trip on the cord of the lamp and promptly pull on it because it upset him, and the lamp broke on the floor. She helped him clean it up. They never finished. 

Percy now sat at the counter in their apartment. Annabeth sat down a mug of hot chocolate in front of him, her hands clasped in her lap. Her curls were tied up in a ponytail, but strands had come loose. She looked messy and sad. So did Percy.

Percy ran his fingertip along the rim of the hot mug, savoring the feeling of the burning sensation. It wasn’t really harming him, but the heat was distracting. When he was sure the hot cocoa wouldn’t burn his mouth, he lifted the mug to his lips and took a drink. The tension in his shoulders disappeared, and they merely slumped. He looked defeated.

Annabeth frowned. Her chest ached at the prospect of hurting him. “Percy,” she whispered.

“Yeah?” he asked, lifting hopeful green eyes to meet hers. It hurt.

“Just because I don’t want to be with you doesn’t mean you have to be unhappy,” she said softly.

The hope in Percy’s eyes vanished. He knew her well enough. When she made her decision… it was made. She wouldn’t change her mind. At least not in the near future. “So… we’re not going to get married, or have kids, or…”

“No,” she confirmed. 

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry,”

“It’s okay,” Percy said, but by the moisture building in his eyes, it clearly wasn’t okay.

Annabeth never changed her mind.


End file.
